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This shark’s unusual name comes from the unusual shape of its head, an amazing piece of anatomy built to maximize the fish’s ability to find its favorite meal: stingrays. A hammerhead shark uses its wide head to trap stingrays by pinning them to the seafloor. The shark’s eye placement, on each end of its very wide head, allows it to scan more area more quickly than other sharks can. The hammerhead also has special sensors across its head that helps it scan for food in the ocean. Living creatures‘ bodies give off electrical signals, which are picked up by sensors on the prowling hammerhead. The shark hunts alone, and can find stingrays that hide under the sand on the seafloor. Hammerheads also eat bony fishes, crabs, squid, lobsters, and other sea creatures. The upper sides of these fish are grayish-brown or olive-green and they have white bellies. They have very impressive triangular, serrated teeth—like the edge of a saw’s blade. Hammerheads‘ mouths are on the underside of their heads. Unlike many fish, hammerheads do not lay eggs. A female gives birth to live young. One litter can range from six to about 50 pups. When a hammerhead pup is born, its head is more rounded than its parents‘. There have been very few recorded attacks on people by the great hammerhead.
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A small frog the length of a quarter leaps from one plant leaf to another, flaunting its little belly as it soars. The skin on the frog’s underside is see-through. So as the amphibian jumps you can view some of its internal organs, including its beating heart. This is a reticulated glass frog, a creature that has a lot of supercool secrets to reveal. DADDY DAY CARE Reticulated glass frogs can be found in the rain forests of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. These animals, which are active at night, inhabit vegetation along streams. Males can get pretty territorial, making squeaking noises to warn trespassing frogs to stay away from their leafy hangout spots. If an intruder doesn’t leave, the frog will wrestle it to show who’s boss. Males are also very protective of their mates’ eggs. Females lay a mass of eggs (called a clutch) on the underside of leaves, sticking them in place with a jelly-like substance. Afterward, the females leave and the males go on guard duty. They watch the eggs 24/7 until they hatch, protecting them from enemies such as wasps. The frog has even been known to kick away wasps that get too close to the egg cluster! TRICK EGGS Scientists still aren’t sure why these frogs have see-through skin on their undersides. But they think the spotted pattern on the backs of the amphibians is meant to resemble a mass of eggs. This camouflage pattern helps the males protect their offspring by confusing predators trying to get at the clutch. Sounds like these eggs are in good webbed hands! Text by Andrea Silen, NGS Staff
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An American goldfinch soars through the warm spring air, it’s yellow feathers reflecting the sun. Suddenly the bird opens its mouth and chirps a call that sounds like “po-ta-to-chip.” This flier isn’t looking for a salty snack. It’s using this vocalization to communicate with its flock. The bird flies on, continuing its delicious call.
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Snowy plovers are small shorebirds that dash in and out of waves at the beach. While it looks like they are playing, these chunky little white birds are actually chasing after a meal of small insects and crustaceans. These small birds have rounded heads with steep foreheads and short necks. Their bills are black and they have large eyes. They have short black legs and dark gray to black feet. As plovers mature, their feathers change. Typically, their feathers are snowy white, hence their name, with black, brown, and gray markings on wings and head. They have patches of brown or black on their shoulders. Snowy plovers feast on beetles, flies, marine worms, crabs, clams, sand hoppers, seeds, and aquatic insects. While they search for food plovers will run, stop, look, and then peck and poke at plants and the sand. Plovers will run into swarms of flies with their bills open and snapping, trying to grab a bite. They nest on the sand on sparsely vegetated coastal beaches and lakeshores and also nest near man-made wastewater ponds and reservoirs. They often line their sand nests with seashells. Many sandy beaches are raked to make them attractive to humans and beach grasses are planted to control beach erosion. As a result, plovers‘ breeding numbers have decreased as their beach habitats and breeding areas are used for fun and recreation. Both parents will take care of the large eggs, but females often take over day duty and the males take over at night. Newly hatched snowy plover chicks look like fluffy white cotton balls.
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The blue whale is the largest mammal in the world. A blue whale calf weighs two tons (1,814 kilograms) at birth and gains an extra 200 pounds (91 kilograms) each day of its first year. Blue whales are able to breathe air, but they are very comfortable in the ocean waters where buoyancy helps to support their incredible bulk. These mammals are found in all the world’s oceans and often swim in small groups or alone. These giant creatures feed on tiny shrimplike animals called krill. Only a few thousand blue whales are believed to swim the world’s oceans. They were hunted for many years for their blubber and oil, and they were almost hunted to extinction. They were protected under the 1966 International Whaling Convention and are now considered to be an endangered species.
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The ocelot quietly stalks through the grass in a Mexican forest. It crouches, then—bam!—pounces on an unsuspecting mouse. Dinner is served. The rodent probably never saw this wild cat coming. Its unique spotted coat helps it blend into the forest while it hunts for prey. The ocelot’s camouflage also helps protect it as it sleeps during the day on tree branches or in bushes. Although the cat is twice the size of an average house cat, ocelots are prey for harpy eagles, pumas, jaguars, and anacondas. NIGHT CAT Ocelots are nocturnal, meaning they’re most active at night. They use their sharp vision and hearing to hunt rabbits, rodents, iguanas, fish, frogs, monkeys, and birds. When they’re ready to eat, the wild cats don’t chew their food—instead they use their teeth to tear meat into pieces and then swallow it whole. Like a domestic cat, an ocelot’s raspy tongue can clean a bone of every last tasty morsel. CUTE KITTENS An ocelot family usually includes a mom and one or two young. The kittens are born with their spots but have gray coats and blue eyes that turn golden brown when they’re about three months old. Ocelots live with their mom for about a year and then leave to find their own territory. There’s a whole lot to love about ocelots! Text by Allyson Shaw / NGS Staff
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This 4-inch-long (10-centimeter-long) fish shares an amazing partnership with another sea creature: the anemone (pronounced: uh-NEM-uh-NEE). The partnership benefits both participants, and the close relationship led to the fish being named an anemonefish. Anemones have tentacles that sting, but the clownfish isn’t bothered by them. In fact, it lives among the tentacles. Living among the tentacles of the anemone, the clown anemonefish gains protection from predators—which don’t dare get near the stinging protector. The anemonefish also gets to eat leftovers from the anemone’s meals. The anemone benefits from having the fish around, too. The useful fish nibbles away parasites that bug the anemone. And sometimes the anemonefish brings food into the tentacles which the anemone can also eat. Generally several anemonefish make one host anemone their home.
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A queen stretches out in her spacious home as her subjects scurry around her. The queen’s workers try to make her comfortable and keep her dwelling clean. This “royal” is well cared for, but you couldn’t exactly call her lifestyle luxurious. That’s because she’s a termite! LARGE AND IN CHARGE Over 2,000 species of termites can be found around the world. Termite colonies, which can include thousands of individuals, often live in large dirt mounds. When a female termite hits breeding age, she may emerge from her colony and find a mate. The pair then creates a burrow in the ground and the female (called a queen) begins to produce eggs—a lot of them. In fact this female generates around 30,000 eggs a day! Once her offspring hatch, they become part of her colony. As the female produces more and more eggs, she begins to grow. Over time she can become the length of an adult human’s index finger. That’s a hundred times bigger than any of the termites that surround her. Eventually the queen gets so large that she can barely move. Luckily members of the queen’s community are there to wait on her, um, antenna and foot. TERMITE TOWERS Many of the offspring that hatch from the queen’s eggs become worker termites. They help the queen by keeping her clean, feeding her plant fibers, and looking after newly laid eggs. These insects may also double as construction workers, carrying up soil from underground to create the colony’s mound. Some termite mounds can reach over 17 feet in height. Sounds like the termite queen and her workers really know how to go big! Watch an amazing video about termites. Text by Andrea Silen, NGS Staff
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Canada geese usually graze together in fields, eating grasses, sedges, grains, and berries. Their bills have serrated edges, which helps them cut tough grass stems. These birds also feast on aquatic vegetation. When eating in water, they „tip up,“ reaching underwater and tearing water plants with their heads beneath the surface and their rear ends sticking up in the air. Male geese fight one another to win a particular female. The winning male gets the female as a mate, and the pair may stay together for life. The female of the pair picks a good spot to make her nest. She finds a place—always near water—which is isolated and a little higher than anything right around it. The female makes her nest of dry grasses, twigs, and other plant material. She uses her body to shape the nest into a bowl. The baby geese, called goslings, take about a month to hatch. Babies are covered with soft feathers called down. They hatch with their eyes open and will leave the nest within 24 hours, following their parents. Goslings can swim right away. In less than two months, the goslings grow adult feathers and learn to fly.
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During the mating season, male blue-footed boobies strut around with exaggerated movements that show off their fabulous blue feet. Females tend to pick the males with the bluest feet as their mates. Parents take care of their chicks feeding and protecting them—until they’re about two months old. At that point, young boobies can survive on their own. Blue-footed boobies sleep at night, generally on land, and feed at sea during the day. Sometimes boobies feed in a group. They often fly far out to sea to look for their prey—small fish such as anchovies. The birds either zip underwater for fish from a floating position on the water’s surface or make awesome dives from as high as 80 feet (24 meters) in the air. Once it spots a school of fish, the bird folds those wings back, becoming a streamlined, torpedo-shaped predator. The booby dives into the water among the school of fish, using its long beak to grab dinner.
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